Roundworms may infect close to a quarter of inner city black children, tapeworms are the leading cause of seizures among U.S. Hispanics and other parasitic diseases associated with poor countries are also affecting Americans, a U.S. expert said on Tuesday.

Recent studies show many of the poorest Americans living in the United States carry some of the same parasitic infections that affect the poor in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, said Dr. Peter Hotez, a tropical disease expert at George Washington University and editor-in-chief of the Public Library of Science journal PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.

Writing in the journal, Hotez said these parasitic infections had been ignored by most health experts in the United States.

"I feel strongly that this is such an important health issue and yet because it only affects the poor it has been ignored," Hotez said via e-mail.

He said the United States spent hundreds of millions of dollars to defend against bio-terrorism threats like anthrax or smallpox or avian flu, which were more a theoretical concern than a real threat at present.

"And yet we have a devastating parasitic disease burden among the American poor, right under our nose," Hotez said.

He noted a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented in November, found that almost 14 percent of the U.S. population is infected with Toxocara roundworms, which dogs and cats can pass to people.

"Urban playgrounds in the United States have recently been shown to be a particularly rich source of Toxocara eggs and inner-city children are at high risk of acquiring the infection," Hotez wrote, adding that this might be partly behind the rise in asthma cases in the country. Up to 23 percent of urban black children may be infected, he said.

"Because of its possible links to asthma, it would be important to determine whether covert toxocariasis is a basis for the rise of asthma among inner-city children in the northeastern United States," he added.

"Cysticercosis is another very serious parasitic worm infection ... caused by the tapeworm Taenia solium, that results in seizures and other neurological manifestations," Hotez wrote.

He said up to 2,000 new cases of neurological disease caused by tapeworms are diagnosed every year in the United States. More than 2 percent of adult Latinos may be infected, and with 35 million Hispanics in the United States, this could add up to tens of thousands of cases, Hotez said.

"In the hospitals of Los Angeles, California, neurocysticercosis currently accounts for 10 percent of all seizures presenting to some emergency departments," he wrote.

"We need to begin erasing these horrific health disparities," Hotez wrote in the paper, available online at www.plosntds.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pntd.0000149.

Makes my butt itch. They just need to give these people a few treatments of Castor oil.

"Because of its possible links to asthma, it would be important to determine whether covert toxocariasis is a basis for the rise of asthma among inner-city children in the northeastern United States," he added.

Up to 23 percent of urban black children may be infected with Toxocara eggs ... could add up to tens of thousands of cases of tapeworm

As usual there are no real data presented to assess the magnitude of the problem and only the extreme stats are used to gin up fear and funding. If 50,000, then we are talking about only one citizen in 6,000 having tapeworm.

Let us face it. Bad things will happen to subgroups who think that hygiene is just an intellectual construct, though they will not phrase their feelings in quite this manner. Government cheese activists, coffee shop cogitators, performance artists, alternative lifestyle facilitators and birkenstockers feel that the verities are racist and so forgo their very health, mental or otherwise.

Working my way through college, I was an orderly for a while, then a med tech. Back in the early 60’s I recall vividly watching a old lady sneeze a couple of worms out her nose. The scuttlebutt with this was that it (Strongyloides) was then usually associated with rural elderly farmer-people, and not necessarily the “poor.” BTW, I don’t think it’s significantly more prevalent now.

“He noted a recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, presented in November, found that almost 14 percent of the U.S. population is infected with Toxocara roundworms, which dogs and cats can pass to people”

Urban playgrounds in the United States have recently been shown to be a particularly rich source of Toxocara eggs and inner-city children are at high risk of acquiring the infection," Hotez wrote, adding that this might be partly behind the rise in asthma cases in the country.

Toxocara is a genus of roundworms that infests domestic dogs and cats. The prevalence has fallen dramatically with the widespread use of prophylactic anti-helminic treatment, mainly among dogs, but to a lesser extent in cats. Seems to me, if there are fewer worms around and worm eggs cause asthma, that there ought to be fewer not more cases of asthma.

neurocysticercosis currently accounts for 10 percent of all seizures presenting to some emergency departments,

Boy, is this ever a vague statistic. Ten percent on some days at some emergency rooms? This condition is caused by tapeworm larvae that infest swine. Human disease is due to consumption of undercooked pork. Undercooked pork also accounts for another parasitic disease - trichinosis, which has dramatically decreased in the last 25 years. Hmmmm.

Yep, straight out of the application for grant lexicon. And then there's the predictable liberal tactic of declaring anything less than carte blanche funding as evidence of malice/prejudice:

"I feel strongly that this is such an important health issue and yet because it only affects the poor it has been ignored," Hotez said via e-mail.

Then straight off the gravy-train template comes the logical fallacy of the either/or card.

He said the United States spent hundreds of millions of dollars to defend against bio-terrorism threats like anthrax or smallpox or avian flu, which were more a theoretical concern than a real threat at present.

Real world translation: "See? See? You're spending money on batteries for the smoke detector against a totally theoretical fire when you've got real Japanese beetles--here right now!--attacking your lawn. My god, man! Where are your priorities?" (Spoken by the Chemlawn man canvassing the neighborhood.)

My family is not poor or dirty and my daughter was infected with pin worms last fall. The nurse says the source was likely some unwashed vegetables. Nobody else in the family became infected but we all had to take the same medicine she did. It was awful for her.

38
posted on 12/26/2007 7:56:42 AM PST
by linn37
(phlebotomist on duty,its just a little pinch)

Anybody out there eating salads? Any imported fruits & veggies? On the advice of a physician friend of mine I take one Vermox pill annually in addition to taking all of the usual hygiene precautions. Yes, many Americans carry parasites. Immigrants are bringing in parasites that had been nearly eradicated, but most have always been here. Prevention is easy and cheap. I buy my Vermox outside the U.S.A. for about $6/pill and it only takes one.

Government cheese activists, coffee shop cogitators, performance artists, alternative lifestyle facilitators and birkenstockers feel that the verities are racist and so forgo their very health, mental or otherwise.

Bravo, bravo! Such fine prose. As I read the story I was pretty incredulous over the part about 'since it only affects the poor nobody cares'. As if when was the last time you saw a multi-million dollar study put forth to find a cure for gout or tennis elbow? You see any stories about big grants to cure the diseases of the rich? You even hear of a list of the diseases of the rich? How is it then that we always hear about the poor? Jesus said "The poor you have with you always", and I think the people seeking funding know it, too.

Actually, human inflammatory bowel disease can be TREATED with doses of pig whipworms:

“...drinking a concoction containing thousands of pig worm eggs could protect people against bowel disease.

“He came up with the idea after noticing that a rise in cases of IBD coincided with a drop in infections caused by roundworms and human whipworms.

“Weinstock also noted that IBD was rare in developing countries where parasitic infections were more common.

“When he tested it twice a month on 100 patients in the United States with IBD, which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, symptoms such as abdominal pain, bleeding and diarrhoea disappeared.

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